


That Damned Spider

by HongjoongKeepsKillingMe



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Spiders, Swearing, There's a lot of swearing, everyone is scared of spiders in this, i still cant tag wow, i think this qualifies as fluff, jongho and mingi appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 23:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18456479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HongjoongKeepsKillingMe/pseuds/HongjoongKeepsKillingMe
Summary: In which Seonghwa and Hongjoong are sad idiots who are scared of spiders





	That Damned Spider

**Author's Note:**

> This is unfortunately a true story that has happened to me more times than I’d like to admit, although I sadly didn’t have the cutest person on earth to cuddle with :’)
> 
> This is also a huge mess so be warned I guess
> 
> Oh yeah! And if you're really scared of spiders, please be careful, I don't want you to have nightmares because of this (this is way more stupid than scary but still!!)

Seonghwa didn’t have the most stable sleep routine.

Most days, he was so worn out from hours of dance and vocal practice that he was knocked out as soon as his head hit the pillow. Other days, he would struggle to sleep and end up talking with Hongjoong when the elder got back from the studio. On other days still, he would find himself mindlessly scrolling on his phone, “five minutes” of Internet turning into two hours.

This was one of those nights, where he could feel his eyes trying to shut and his hand growing numb from holding up his phone. He sighed, shifting onto his other side to make his other arm suffer instead. He knew he would regret this the next morning but he was in a strange half-drained, half-depressed mood and he didn’t want to be left with the negative thoughts right now. As the oldest, he didn’t like to share his feelings, preferring to help the other members with their own emotional issues instead, so he would scroll through his feed to the point of exhaustion to distract himself. It worked, but he always ended up pale and dizzy the next morning, which was never fun to make up excuses about.

A slightly too offensive meme made him put down his phone momentarily, amazed at how insensitive people could be. He rolled onto his back, trying to forget what he just read and let his eyes close for a moment. After enjoying a moment of rest for his strained eyes, he reached for his phone again to turn it off. When his hand found only bedsheets, he opened his eyes to find it and promptly froze, praying he hadn’t seen what he did.

But the black mass on the ceiling was very real and Seonghwa felt his throat go dry. He quickly fumbled for his phone, thinking it would be fine, he would put his phone away and go to sleep like he wasn’t in the presence of the largest spider he had ever seen in his life.

Of course the spider then had to move, and move _towards him_ at an alarming speed and the vocalist nearly screamed.

‘Holy fuck of fucking fuck, _fucking_ –‘ he cursed under his breath as he all but bolted out of his bed. It didn’t help that he was in the top bunk, which was distressingly close to the ceiling, and he cringed as his head brushed against it (hopefully nowhere near the spider).

His heart was racing and though he knew it was silly for a grown man to be so scared of a tiny creature, he decided he was spending the night on the couch. Probably the next several nights – he was scarred. He sent one last look towards his bed, wondering if he should at least take his pillow, but the sight of the spider now crawling around on top of it sent him out of the room without a second thought.

Seonghwa sighed as he trudged into the living room, bracing himself for exhaustion _and_ a sore back the next morning. Irritation started to settle in. He had already been in a negative state of mind before the damned spider had appeared, and the stress from this was not helping his mood.

He felt around for a blanket in the dark. Where had Wooyoung thrown it this time?

‘Seonghwa?’

Seonghwa turned around to see a small figure in the doorway, faintly illuminated by the open door behind him. His mood softened at the sight of his close friend, who must have just returned from a long night in his studio.

‘Hey, Joongie,’ he greeted with a weaker voice than he’d like to have done.

‘Why aren’t you in bed?’ Hongjoong asked, closing the door and walking closer. ‘It’s like midnight.’

‘You’re hardly one to talk considering you only just got here,’ Seonghwa retorted as he found the blanket and sat on the couch.

‘But why are you out here?’ Hongjoong persisted and Seonghwa sighed. He hadn’t been planning on telling him why he wasn’t in his room but he was too tired to bother avoiding the subject.

‘There’s a spider right by my bed and if you think I’m going back in there you’re wrong.’

‘A spider?’ Hongjoong raised an eyebrow. ‘Don’t be stupid, you’ll get a sore back if you sleep out here.’

Seonghwa ignored the small buzz of happiness he felt at the younger’s concern. ‘Hongjoong, the damage has been done, I’m not going back in there for the next five days. You can go sleep in there but I’m staying out here.’

‘You’re being irrational,’ Hongjoong protested. ‘I won’t let you sleep on the couch. I’ll take the spider out, okay?’

He made a determined walk towards their shared room, which looked adorable to Seonghwa. The vocalist settled down on the couch, figuring that if he pretended to be asleep Hongjoong would leave him alone and just go to bed.

He didn’t count on the younger screaming and running back out of the bedroom. ‘You didn’t tell me it was a big one!’ he whimpered, sitting down next to Seonghwa. The older looked at him indignantly.

‘Did you really think I’d give up my bed for a small spider that I can just ignore?’

Hongjoong only whined, leaning into his side. ‘I’m sorry, okay? … And I guess we’re both spending the night out here,’ he continued in an embarrassed tone that made Seonghwa laugh.

‘We’d better get comfortable, then.’

Hongjoong nodded and took off his jacket and shoes. ‘I can’t believe I used to laugh at Jongho’s fear of bugs.’

‘Yup, I think I understand him now,’ Seonghwa replied with a laugh, his earlier irritation dissipating. A part of him was glad for this situation – as much as it sucked to sleep on the couch, at least he could do it with Hongjoong, who always managed to lift his mood.

Hongjoong tossed his jeans somewhere across the room. ‘I hope you don’t mind cuddling because that blanket is thin and I refuse to sleep with jeans on.’

‘There’s this amazing and comfortable thing called tracksuits,’ Seonghwa sighed though he was secretly hoping for this. Hongjoong rolled his eyes and they finally settled down on the couch, draping the blanket over themselves.

Seonghwa grimaced as his head fell onto the stiff cushions that were his pillow for the night. He stopped Hongjoong from doing the same, guiding his head to rest on his chest instead. ‘Let’s minimize the amount of sore necks tomorrow, okay?’ He let his hand stay at the back of the younger’s neck, feeling his soft hair tickle his fingers.

‘I feel bad, though,’ Hongjoong said with a pout. ‘Can’t you sleep on my chest instead?’

‘Joong, you’re so tiny I’d be scared of breaking you.’

‘You’re mean,’ Hongjoong sighed and gave up. ‘I’ll be your pillow tomorrow, okay?’

Seonghwa smiled. ‘I like that we’ve established that we’re no longer sleeping in there.’ He brought up his other arm to rest across Hongjoong’s waist, holding him snugly. The rapper sighed happily and burrowed closer.

‘This is so fucking stupid and I just want you to know that we’re never talking about this when this is over.’

‘Fine by me… but make an exception for your wedding speech, please,’ Seonghwa replied with a smirk.

‘You want your best man speech to be about how we cuddled in the living room because we were terrified of a spider?’ Hongjoong chuckled.

‘Did you just “best-man”-zone me?’ Seonghwa asked in mock-indignation. ‘I was talking about _our_ wedding, you moron.’

Hongjoong spluttered at that, head jolting off Seonghwa’s chest while the elder laughed at his reaction. He knew the younger’s eyes were wide with that comically surprised expression he pulled when he was shocked, despite them being in near total darkness.

‘Those are some bold fucking words, mister,’ Hongjoong grumbled and settled back down. Seonghwa’s arms returned to their position around him, if a little tighter. ‘If I want to marry a tall meanie it’ll be Mingi or Yunho. At least they’re nicer than you.’

‘Ouch,’ Seonghwa replied with mirth. ‘I guess you can always go find them, but that spider might have crawled out here by now. Who knows, maybe you’ll bump into it.’

‘Holy shit, don’t say that,’ Hongjoong protested, his voice sounding scared again. ‘Seonghwa, what if it crawls up the couch?’

Seonghwa fell silent at that, his mood taking a drastic 180 turn. ‘Oh my fucking – Hongjoong, if I cry, you can talk about that at our wedding but no judging, okay?’

‘Can you shut up about our wedding?!’ Hongjoong asked in a tight voice. ‘I think I’m already crying.’

‘Hey, it’s gonna be okay,’ Seonghwa quickly said, alarmed at the other’s weak tone. He was actually very near to crying himself but his concern for Hongjoong managed to overpower his fear, at least for the moment and he tried to calm him down. ‘Let’s not think about it, all right? Let’s talk about the wedding – what kind of a cake do you want?’

‘Do you think I care about cakes right now?’ Hongjoong raised his voice slightly in his agitation. Seonghwa shushed him, starting to stroke his hair with a shaky hand and the younger gave in. ‘Um, I guess a chocolate cake would be nice. Or with fruit. Fruit are nice.’

‘Yeah, fruit are good,’ Seonghwa replied and chuckled suddenly. ‘I can picture you wearing a fruit-patterned tuxedo to our wedding.’

‘Seonghwa, what the _fuck_ —’ Hongjoong cut himself off and sighed. ‘But you’d have to match my tux so you’d also have a fruit tux. One with watermelons on it,’ he continued. ‘Because they’re big and watery, like you.’

‘Says the one who was crying just now,’ Seonghwa bit back. ‘Well, you’d be in a lemon one because of how bitter you’re being right now. Actually, it wouldn’t even be a tux. You’d just be in a big lemon costume as you say your vows.’

The pair continued to bicker about their theoretical wedding for the next hour or so, finally falling asleep after a particularly tiring debate about what the rings would look like (‘I refuse to spend a mere 50 won on my wedding ring.’ ‘But Hwa, think about how funny it would be to hold up plastic fish rings at our super romantic wedding!’ ‘I want a divorce.’)

They had a pleasantly restful sleep considering their earlier stress, but it pained Seonghwa to wake up some four hours later to an ear-splitting scream that could only have been Jongho’s. This was soon followed by a series of screeches from Mingi and the two burst out of their bedroom in a panic. Seonghwa asked what was wrong in a rough voice, pulling Hongjoong closer (the rapper had slid to the side in the night and the elder refused to be abandoned by his personal blanket and teddy bear like this).

As a sobbing Mingi plopped himself beside Hongjoong and Jongho settled at Seonghwa’s other side, blubbering about a huge spider in their room, the eldest found himself swallowing his own tears. Why couldn’t the darned spider just disappear by morning like they usually did?!

He was suddenly aware of his inevitably stiff neck and back, and realised that this would probably be his life for the rest of the week.

He had a feeling he and the couch would be getting well-acquainted over the coming nights.

**Author's Note:**

> ... and eventually the spider yeeted all the members out of their rooms and Seonghwa choked under their combined weight and died so Hongjoong had to marry Mingi and Yunho after all
> 
> It's past 1 in the morning here so there might be mistakes I didn't spot, sorry about that heh
> 
> Thanks for reading though, I love you all! <3


End file.
